it was a solemn moment in the senate with senator dole sitting right there in the well begging his colleagues to pass this disabilities convention, maybe his last lobbying effort that he would undertake. it meant so much to the dole family and to robert dole. he came to the floor and we called the measure, and those who witnessed it will remember that most members came and sat in their chairs to cast a vote, which is rare here, and it really tells the story that this was more than just an ordinary, routine vote. we listened as the roll call was made, and we watched the senators stand and vote, and then toward the end i turned to tom harkin who was sitting right over here and i said, we don't have it, we missed it. we did. we failed to ratify this by five votes. 61 votes. we needed 66 votes because senator kirk is antibiotic because of illness -- is absent because of illness. 66 votes we needed to pass this. there were only eight republicans that would stand with all of the democrats to pass this convention on disabilities. senator john mccain led that effort, john mccain, a person who knows t